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Last night there was an aurora visible over the southern half of Australia, ranging from spectacular in Tasmania to a pink glow with a few rays around my latitude of 31S.
I was busy watching the real time geomagnetic activity monitors and waiting for it to get dark for a bit too long, it was well and truly dark, but mostly cloudy when I went out to look. All I could see was a dim ray, vaguely reddish in colour, so I set the camera to ISO 400 and tried a few 30 sec exposures. I later set it to 500 for a slight increase in speed. I really do need to get myself a fast wide lens, when is that new Sigma 30mm f/1.4 going to be available I wonder?
heres a 30 sec exposure, 24mm f/2.8. There are a few clouds, with the sky all red behind them.



I have posted an animation made up of exposures over an 8 minute period where you can see the movement of the rays, its the top link on my page:
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~loomberah

I didnt use the auto dark frame subtraction, there wasnt enough time with the display fading so theres a fair bit of noise visible.

Gordon

Nice, the animation really brings it out!

spooky!

Really nice work.

Very interesting Gordon, must be a great part of Aus to live.

Cheers,

Mic.

Great work Gordon. Animation really shows this well.

I also liked this quote from your web site "NO use by millennium/conspiracy theory/UFO websites is allowed"

stubbsy wrote:Great work Gordon. Animation really shows this well.

I also liked this quote from your web site "NO use by millennium/conspiracy theory/UFO websites is allowed"

hehe yes, I have had all sorts of whacko groups stealing my astronomical images, especially comets, and using them for their own deluded purposes.
I had an argument via email with one of them who insisted the images I took of a comet were the property of god, and available for anybody to use, because I didnt make the comet. It really is a complete waste of effort even communicating with some of these people.

Gordon

great pix's..........

bp

I really like this Gordon. I suppose this would be one of those things I'd really like to photograph, except it would be Northerm lights for me. One day I'll capture them.

thanks all

dooda wrote:I really like this Gordon. I suppose this would be one of those things I'd really like to photograph, except it would be Northerm lights for me. One day I'll capture them.

Vancouver is a perfect area to photograph them from dooda! A nice high latitude compared to here... at least once you get a bit out of town away from the city lights.

Gordon

Awesome photo, and fantastic that you could see it that far north too. I see the lads in the north got their fair share of shots of the aurora borealis too. It's times like this that i miss living in the country. Sydney sucks.

Don't complain mate, you don't live near a dingy council estate in north west London.